DUBAI: Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management said pre-flight PCR tests will be required from all inbound visitors regardless of country of departure as of Jan. 31, state news agency WAM reported.
The committee has also decreased the test’s validity period to 72 hours from the 96 hours, the report added.
Some visitors will also be required to do another PCR test upon arrival, dependent on their country of departure.
Meanwhile, UAE nationals are exempt from pre-flight PCR tests but would be required to test upon arrival in Dubai.
The Gulf country continued to report a record number of daily cases for the 16th day in a row.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention on Wednesday confirmed 3,939 new cases, increasing the total number of infected individuals since the start of the pandemic to 289,086.
The ministry also reported six new COVID-19 deaths and 4,536 recoveries, increasing the death toll to 811 and the number of recovered patients to 263,730.
The UAE also reported that 86,770 doses of the coronavirus vaccine were administered on Wednesday, bumping total number of jabs in the country to 2,764,445 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 27.95 doses per 100 people.
Three vaccines are now being used in the country’s vaccination program: those developed by Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech and the Russian Sputnik V.